February 4th, 2018
My phone rings at 8 a.m.
I am in a deep sleep after staying up late the night before. I am confused about what day it is and why my phone is ringing. I answer to hear the newest employee at my work. He is in frantic mode. The agency that comes in to bath my client has not shown up for work. This is his first day after a week of training and he is nervous and unsure of what to do.
I reassure him that he is fine. We talk about what steps he should be taking while I contact the agency. The agency does not answer the phone so I call a coworker who lives nearby and he commits to going in to help. I contact the new employee and let him know that help is on the way.
I get up to go to the bathroom and check on my granddaughter. She is still fast asleep. We went to a late movie the night before, getting in after midnight. She is a night owl and did not go to bed easily. I can hear my husband snoring loudly and I am glad the phone did not wake everyone.
I go back to bed, thinking I would sleep till everyone else moves around. My phone rings. New employee has set the smoke alarm off and he needs me to talk him through it. I give up sleep and make coffee.
I enjoy watching the Sunday morning news shows and fix a cup of coffee and turn on the TV. J., my husband, gets up and joins me in front of the boob tube. We enjoy this Sunday ritual. Sleeping in (anything past 6 am) drinking coffee, and watching news in our pj’s.
My granddaughter, I., wakes up at 10:00. She pokes her head into the room and I ask her if I know her. This always makes her smile. She curls up on the couch and stares at the TV blankly. She remains quiet for a short time, then complains about the news being on. She wants to watch Power Rangers.
After living through the Power Rangers, when our son was young, this was our cue to get up and get dressed.
We all three get busy. J. leaves the house, to look at a stove in one of our rentals. I start laundry and I. works on the craft project I had bought for her the day before.
At 11:30 I call I.’s parents. I need to be at Maring Hunt Library at 2 and I offer to drop her off on my way. They think a trip to the library sounds like a good family trip and they agree to meet me there.
At noon, I offer Isabelle lunch. She wants pancakes. I make her pancakes and we sit together and chat while she eats. We have a ritual that starts every conversation. I ask her to tell me one good thing and one bad thing. Her bad thing is she did not win the science fair. She won last year and was disappointed not to win this year. She felt that the college aged adults, who judged the exhibits where not educated enough to make a good call. “They will know more once they graduate Ball State”. Her good thing was her love of crafting and she showed me the project she had been working on all morning.
1:30 I am nagging I. to get dressed and packed so we can meet her parents at the library. She is moving slow. She packs her suit case carefully. She does not want to cause damage to her craft project.
2:00 we arrive at Maring Hunt Library. I go to a conference room where others are meeting. We are all signing up for precinct committee positions. I fill out the forms and have someone put their seal of approval on it. I introduce I. to people in the room. I. is extremely annoyed. She came to the library to look at books. She did not want to chat with “old people”
2:20 Much to I.’s relief, her parents arrive. We talk for a few minutes and go our separate ways. They go to explore the library and I am headed to a volunteer meeting for my nonprofit. Today is Super Bowl Sunday so we moved the meeting up an hour. My volunteers have plans to watch the game. J. has plans to watch the game with a friend. I have plans to watch girly movies and enjoy some alone time.
3:00 Volunteer meeting is very productive. I have enough volunteers that we have formed committees. The group working on prom are very excited about the theme. They are playing off Stranger Things and are calling the prom Queerer Things with an 80’s theme. We also have a group working on education. They feel like they will be done before our next meeting and would like to present. We talk about the group and what needs to be approached differently. As we are wrapping up the meeting, a Ball State student walks in. He needs to observe a meeting for a class and saw on our website that we meet at 4:00. I let him know that we changed the time due to the game and he is welcome to join us. He listens to us discuss a decal contest we are doing and an upcoming “Moth” meeting with the youth. Everyone leaves and I stay a little longer to answer questions from the BSU student.
4:30 my phone rings, interrupting my conversation. It is my work. Somebody is sick and they need somebody to come in. FUCK!!!!! It is Super Bowl Sunday and I know I will not get anyone to go in. I end the conversation with the student and head to Anderson. I am totally disappointed that I will not get time to be alone in my house.
5:00 I arrive at the waiver home I work in. Everyone is in good spirits. One of my clients requires 100% care. He is a big guy and two people are needed to help move him. He has cerebral palsy and curvature of the spine. We always keep two people in the house in order to help him change clothes or go to the bathroom. There are two other clients that live with him. One has downs syndrome and is non vocal. The third is intellectually challenged and repeats the same dozen sentences over and over. They are wonderful men who I have grown attached to. I great everyone and ask them what we are doing for the night. They are excited to see me. I am their only driver and I also keep their money. My being at their house means, to them, getting out of the house and eating out. I sit with my co-worker and talk about our personal lives. We chat for a while then try to decide what we are doing for the evening. The weather is kinda bad, to take our clients out, so we think it would be wiser to dine in. My co-worker suggest ordering pizza, a favorite with the three guys, but I reminder there might be a 2 hour wait due to the ball game. We decide to order Applebee’s. After placing an order on line, I go out to get food for everyone.
6:30 I arrive at Applebee’s. The food is not ready so I sit at the bar to wait. I text J. and let him know I am working till after my client goes to bed. He lets me know they are watching the game at our house. His friends TV lost signal. I feel better about being at work. I would have lost my “alone time” anyway. I have my nose in my phone when I hear arguing. People sitting at the bar are not happy. They are calling the bartender a bitch and asshole. They want sound on the TV. They are here to watch football. The manager comes out. She looks angry, but her voice is sweet. She explains that the NFL sued Applebee’s and the agreement was they had to take the soundboards out of the TVs. They are allowed to play the game, but you are not allowed to listen to it. The customers did not really buy into this story. They are wanting the manger to pick up their tab. She is not going for it. I am watching this back and forth when they bring my food out. I thank the bartender and tip her well. I realize she will have a long night.
7:00 Back at the guys house, we feed the guys dinner. They are excited to have Applebee’s. After dinner we turn on the TV and watch football. I have zero interest in football. I do like the commercials and the half time show. Two of the guys disappear into their bedrooms. The third client looks eager to watch football and quickly goes to sleep. My co-worker and I chat back and forth, not really saying anything.
8:30 = Time to put my client to bed. My co-worker and I follow my client’s wheel chair into his room. We help with the urinal and take his watch, glasses, necklace, and shirt off. We use a Hoyer lift to pick him up and place him in the bed. Once in bed, we remove the rest of his clothes and give him a bed bath. We put on a fresh diaper and pajamas. He loves to have his feet elevated and a blanket. His favorite stuffed animal is placed in bed with him. We turn off the light and leave the room. We sit down and wait. My client loves his stuffed animal and nighttime is when he becomes the most vocal. He sounds like a jazz musician. We hear loud bee bops and do wops. I check on the other two clients. One has already put himself into bed, while the third decides to chat with us for a bit.
9:30 with all the clients in bed, I leave my coworker in charge, and head home. It takes me 30 minutes to drive and I turn up the tunes. Once home, I notice we still have people there watching the game. I decide to sit in the car for a few minutes listening to the radio and enjoying some “alone time”.
10:30 I start into the house and immediately remember why we do not have J’s friends over more often. The smell of cigarette smoke is strong on my back porch. I absolutely hate the smell. Inside, the men greet me and fill me in on the game. I interject my love of the half time show and Justin Timberlake. They wince and give up talking to me. I leave them and go get ready for bed.
11:20 I am lying in bed listening to J. and his friends talking drunk politics. My alarm will go off at 5:30 and part of me wishes they would shut up while another part of me laughs at their conversation. At some point, I fall asleep.
